Decorating your Christmas tree is the first stage in turning your home into winter wonderland this festive season. Whether you’re entertaining guests, or creating your own cosy retreat, follow our 10 easy steps to create the Christmas tree centrepiece of the season.
1. Location
For a living space that works perfectly all year round, finding the right space for a tree at Christmas can be difficult. Don’t be afraid to change up your living room layout to create room. Envisage your Christmas tree as part of the furniture requiring it’s own space to avoid cramped decorations. Next steps are the logistics; find a space which is close to a plug socket for those twinkling lights and ensure your tree is out of walkways to protect those precious decorations (and presents!).
Another great alternative to a full tree are table-top trees. Still as festive, these mini trees can be placed on table tops or outside your front door – anywhere for an added festive feel.
2. Measure
Rooms come in all shapes and sizes, which makes getting the right sized tree important. The best tree needs to be in proportion to the room and work for you (it’s your living space after all!). Fit the tree to the space you have available, leaving enough room for the angel on the top and the presents underneath.
However, finding the right tree for your available space can be easier said than done, especially if you don’t have much space to begin with, which is why there are some great space saving tree solutions out there to create the perfect space in your home.
If you’re running out of floor space, the Artificial Pencil Pine Slim Tree is a great space saving solution, with it’s densely packed outer folding branches, it will sit perfectly on a smaller floor area and still have the height and branches to hold your favourite festive decorations. Alternatively, this Snowy tree with LED lights has a simple Scandi look with thin branches for a Christmas look in any space.
3. Fluffing
After a year in storage, those tree branches may not be looking their best straight out of the box. To create a beautiful tree, build your tree from the bottom up, ensuring the branches are spread out evenly, with care taken to fill any gaps to create a more natural look.
If you’re looking for a more authentic look, the Artificial Lake Forest Snow Tree has branches flocked with artificial snow, combining natural looks with modern conveniences and ingenuity.
Alternatively, if spending time building the tree isn’t for you, pop-up trees are a great solution for a quick and easy way to create a festive tree in seconds.
4. Lighting
The most useful advice uttered each year for decades is still true today – check the lights are working before you put them on the tree. It sounds simple, but it’s often forgotten and the pain of taking off broken Christmas tree lights is not worth your time.
Add your Christmas lights to your tree by working from the top down – this ensures your lights don’t fall short of reaching the top of the tree.
5. Choose your theme
Just like snowflakes, each Christmas tree is different – built up of traditions, gifts and hand-made trinkets, passed down through generations and impulsively bought at craft fairs. But if you’re like me, and have far too many decorations for one tree, a good theme helps to streamline what should go on the tree and what you can utilise elsewhere. It also helps when buying new tree decorations, to ensure your tree comes together in a your chosen creative style.
At Kaleidoscope we have five festive Christmas themes to inspire your home decor theme;
Transform your home into an enchanting wonderland this winter with our Christmas Magic collection. Inspired by festive fairy tales (just check out that unicorn!), the light, pastel colour palette gives the collection a dreamy aesthetic that’s perfect for contemporary homes.
Add a pop of colour to your festive décor with the Christmas Colour Carnival collection. Inspired by Christmas candy, this collection is all about having fun and spreading joy.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, tra la la la la la la la la! For classic Christmas decorations, look no further than our Deck the Halls collection. Reds, golds, and greens make this range our most Christmassy yet, with the addition of some Disney characters giving it a quirky, fun-filled aesthetic.
Transform your home into an enchanted festive woodland with the Into the Forest collection. Inspired by the magical aesthetic of woodland during winter, the collection blends golds, silvers, and greys to create a twinkling treat for the eyes.
Twinkle, twinkle little star, welcome to our Christmas wonderland. For magical night-time vibes this season, deck your home with pieces from the Noel Night Skies collection. Inspired by cosy winter nights under the stars, the collection blends majestic golden hues with enchanting silvers and navies to create a truly magical ambience.
6. Dressing the Tree
Once our tree is up and the lights are on, the next step is to add colour to your tree. Again, start from the top and work your way down.
For a classic look, add tinsel, beads or wired ribbon for a traditional Christmas feel. If you’ve creating a rustic look, try adding strips of hessian fabric instead of ribbon, or for a Winter forest theme, add white fur in the place of tinsel as mock snow throughout your tree.
If you’re aiming for more of a refined look, leave the tree bare and let the baubles do the talking.
7. Baubles
Now you have your theme, the possibility of bauble designs are endless! Choose colours which are tonal to your overall design and ones which help illustrate your festive theme.
A good tip is to start adding your baubles from the inside of the tree and work your way out. Start with the plain designs and add your decorative ones on last. These should be evenly spaced, with a good mix of plain and decorated baubles.
If you have small children or pets, a good tip is to fold over the ends of the trees back in on themselves over the bauble loop to prevent them falling off. And don’t forget to place the delicate ornaments further up the tree.
If you’re looking for new designs, baubles can take on any shape or style, from the traditional to the fun and unique.
Browse through our tree decorations online for inspiration for any Christmas theme. We have everything from Disney baubles to clip on flowers, robins, unicorns, gingerbread men, brussel sprouts, whales, embroidered beaded hearts and even ice-cream & candy floss machines!
8. Tree Collar
A great finishing touch and a way to cover your tree legs and those unsightly leads and cables is to add a tree collar. These skirts will fit around the base of any tree and finish off the look of your tree ready for presents and gifts underneath.
9. Finishing Touches
Finishing touches around the home can help to bring your Christmas theme to life. From Christmas Eve boxes to Christmas Stocking Hooks or these or these wonderful Winter cushions, these little touches are a lovely added extra to spread festive cheer around the home.
Last but not least, continue the theme outside with our range of outdoor Christmas lighting. From twinkling lights to an LED Santa, there’s something for everyone that the whole street can enjoy.
10. Festive Cheer
Last but not least, pour a glass of mulled wine and sit back to admire your creative Christmas centerpiece! Your Christmas tree is now complete and eagerly awaiting Santa’s visit in time for Christmas Day.
How will you be decorating your home this Christmas?